La Defense

At one end of line one of the metro in Paris you will reach a huge business area called la Defense. Maurice even had an office here when he worked with IBM which was the first time I ever visited this area. I got very lost-thank God for cell phones.

This is the main building there. It is also a sort of Arch de Triumph of the modern kind. You can take an elevator to the top but it’s quite a distance from central Paris and it is hard to see much there.

A closer view of the Arch.

It lines up with the Arch de Triumph as you can see here in the distance. If you continue on in a straight line, you go down the Champs Elysees, to Place de la Concorde, and then on to the Pyramid of the Louvre.

The area is full of beautiful business buildings, many places to eat that are full of employees from there, and hotels. There is also a huge underground shopping mall.

There are a lot of sculptures there and this is one. Why the artist chose a thumb, I have no idea. Up close it looks like the hide of an elephant.

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8 thoughts to “La Defense”

This is one of the places I tell people to see if visiting Paris. When leaving the Metro to see this appear takes your breath away. I am not a lover of modern architecture but this is done so well, and I love the fact that the 3 arches are all aligned. I just picture and hear Jean Michell Jarre everytime I see this.